A/N: Yay! Thank you everyone your responses have been so wonderful and I'm so thrilled you're liking the Fic! Now if you're not one for spoilers, then please stop reading here... But if you're not one for smut, then please know that I have a page break just before it gets intense, that is the rest of the chapter however, so I might post an early chapter depending on your response. Otherwise, please know it's my first time writing smut, so if it sucks I'm sorry let me know and I will just keep to story telling until I get the hang of it.

Chapter 20

Harry had tried to talk to Hermione about what he saw in the hallway but Hermione wanted nothing to do with it. She was at work and that certainly was not the place to talk about being dumped by a guy that she wasn't technically seeing. She had better things to do other than thinking about him. So she kept herself busy for the rest of the day, not even giving herself time to eat because she didn't want to waste a single moment on him. She was mulling over some paperwork at her desk when a soft knock came to the door. "Come in," she beckoned, still reading the memo when the door opened.

"Hermione, it's five." Harry leaned up against the door frame.

"Thank you, Harry, I'm well aware of the time," she said matter of factly, still not bothering to look up at him.

Harry hung his head. "Hermione, let's go home. The work day is over."

Hermione shot him a cross look, but after all these years Harry didn't even shudder. Sure, she used to send him dirty looks and he would back down instantly, but not anymore; he'd become immune to them. "I have work to finish." Her eyes returned to the paperwork in front of her.

Harry chuckled to himself and stepped in to her office, closing the door behind him. He crossed the room and leaned up against her desk. "Hermione, I get you didn't want to talk about it at work, but that does not mean you can stay at work forever to avoid it."

Sometimes she hated how well Harry knew her. To everyone else it probably looked like she was just having an extremely productive day; to Harry though, she was avoiding something. "Harry, I really do have things to finish," she whined at him, rolling her head back to look at him perched on her desk.

"I understand, Hermione, but that work will also be here tomorrow. It is only Monday so you have an entire week to finish it." Harry grabbed her wrist and pulled her up to him, pulling her into a tight hug.

Ugh, this man understood her, for as much as she hated his familiarty of her, she appreciated it more than anything on the planet. She stood there in his embrace for a long time, letting the raw emotions roll over her and in to his chest. "It's so stupid," she mumbled in to his chest. "We weren't even really a thing."

Harry rubbed her back. "I know. Come on, I'll take you home and we can order in some Chinese and talk."

Hermione looked up at him. "What about Ginny?"

"I told her this morning about the interview and said I might be late."

Hermione smirked, of course he did, she nodded and grabbed her things and they left for her flat. Once they had both flooed in, she put a kettle on the stove and then ordered some food from a muggle restaurant down the street. She sat there after they had finished eating, on the couch with her belly full, staring off into the distance. Malfoy's words running through her head.

Harry just watched her for a moment. "So what is it then?"

Hermione shook her head "I'm not really sure." She paused for a moment. "We've been seeing each other on and off and in no official capacity for a just about a month now. I mean, hell, to call it seeing each other is a stretch." She looked at him, "But it's the first time I've clicked with someone. When we were on that date, Harry, it was truly a side of Malfoy that I had never seen. He was open and explained so many things and, for the first time in my life, I thought that there was a good man underneath all that history. He really had no choice when it came to any of it, and..." She trailed off. "It sounded a lot like you." Her voice softened. "He was thrown into a war with a title that he never asked for, sure it was on the wrong side, but nonetheless he was just a child dealing with really grown up shit. Shit that none of us should have had to deal with as just kids. His childhood was taken from him just like yours, he was raised to play this part without any any idea what he was doing. And my heart breaks for him, but it is also so amazing to me how far he has come. He had to overcome so much to get to where he is today."

"Take, for instance, today when I met him in the Atrium." Hermione was full on ranting now, but she knew that's what Harry had intended to happen, damn him. "Everyone stared at him, and not in a nice way, people leered at him, assuming that he's the same death eater he was back then, even though he never was a death eater. Could you imagine what that feels like to have people assume that you're so evil and vile when you don't deserve it."

Harry chuckled. "Yes, Hermione, I happen know very much what that feels like."

Hermione stopped, of course Harry did. Fudge had ostracized Harry just before the return of Voldemort, and then, while Voldemort was in power he was undesirable number one. "Okay, yes you do," she conceded, "but the point is that he's still dealing with it and the war has been over for a long time now. At least when the war ended you were treated like a hero, he is still treated like a villain. But he just deals with it, he doesn't let it bother him, and he is slowly working to gain his reputation back, and be better than he was. That takes character, and strength and humility..." She trailed off again.

"And I think I was really starting to like the Malfoy I was seeing, and I feel robbed that I won't get to see it anymore. That he's putting up the same walls because..." Why was Malfoy putting up the walls again. She thought back to earlier. It is not lost on me that you deserve better. That I suddenly come back into your life and all of the sudden danger is lurking over your shoulder. "He thinks I deserve

more, that he only puts me in danger."

Harry nodded. "Yes, I did catch that part of the conversation." Harry paused and leaned forward. "Look, when you said that you were semi-seeing Malfoy, I was in no way on board. I was in no way okay with you liking that prat. At all. But then you started sharing all these things, started telling me about how he's changed, and I decided that maybe he deserves a chance to prove himself, like Ginny said." He caught her eye. "When I stepped out of the hallway today, and you were yelling at him, I thought for sure that things had reverted back to the way it use to be. I was relieved for a moment because that would mean this would be over, that I would never have to look or consider Malfoy outside of a professional stance. I watched his temper rise and for a half a moment I thought I was going to have to step in, but then everything changed. The look he gave you Hermione, I'd never seen Ron give you a look like that. It was like you were the only thing in the world that existed to him, that you were the only thing that truly mattered in his little fucked up universe. I have been waiting years for someone to look at you like that, because you deserve that kind of love. If someone had told me before that moment that it would be him to give you that look, I would have locked them up in St. Mungo's, but I saw it."

Hermione's breath hitched, was that the confrimation she had been waiting for all this time? Malfoy was right, she had been keeping him at a distance, but only because she wasn't sure that he was serious, because she didn't know if this was the real him. Harry had seen it though, and Harry had always been the one person she relied on completely, because he got her. "Harry, I gotta go."

Harry gave her a look of sheer confusion. "What?"

"I have to go." She picked up her wand and slipped on some shoes, "I have to tell him..." She stopped. She had no idea what she was going to do or say but she just needed to see him now. "I don't know, I just have to see him." Before Harry could get another word in edgewise, Hermione stepped into the fireplace and green flames engulfed her. The next moment she was standing alone in the Malfoy's foyer. It just then when it dawned on her that this was quite rude: to show up at someone's house unannounced and uninvited. She toyed with going back before anyone noticed for a moment when a house elf appeared in front of her.

The elf bowed low. "Welcome, miss. We were not aware guests were expected. I can take you to my masters."

"Nibsy, who are you talking to?" Hermione's heart skipped a beat as Malfoy voice carried in from the drawing room, closely followed by his footsteps. Instantly, Hermione began to regret her rash decision.

Draco rounded the corner of the foyer to find Granger standing in the only open floo. "Granger, what are you doing here?" he asked stepping closer to her carefully, as if he were approaching lion.

Hermione took a deep breath, there's no going back now. She found her courage, and looked at him with ferocity. "I've come to tell you that you're wrong, Malfoy. You don't get to dictate my life, and if I want to keep seeing you, I will do so." She stepped out of the fireplace and stood in the middle of the room.

Draco clenched his teeth. "Granger, it's dangerous to be around me," he gritted out. "And in case you forgot seeing someone requires both parties consent."

"I had not forgotten, but I refuse to accept your refusal" She walked closer to him. "You see, Malfoy, there is something between us, I can't thoroughly describe it, but I know it's there. You're right, I've been keeping you at a distance because I was afraid you weren't being sincere. Now I know that you are being sincere, and I can't just let you walk away from me because you think I might get a scratch."

Draco clenched his fists, this woman clearly had no idea what was good for her. "Granger, it would be more than a scratch you'd be getting. I'm dangerous, I have people who want to hurt me, and I can't let you get hit in the crossfire."

Hermione refused to back down as she moved closer to him. They were feet from each other. "I don't give a damn. I have been in the cross hairs before and I didn't run away then, and I won't do it now," her voice terse.

"Granger..." Draco growled, becoming very aware of how close she was getting to him. "You deserve better than this, better than me."

Hermione smirked, closing the gap between them. "Shut up, Draco." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his in a deep fiery passion that lit fireworks in her belly. She had waited her entire life for someone to have this effect on her, and here she was, standing in her school nemesis' home, kissing him with years of pent up yearning.

Draco's heart exploded inside his chest cavity. She tasted so sweet and alluring that he couldn't believe his taste buds. He quickly wrapped his arms around her frame and pulled her into his body with an earth shattering force. She was hot and desperate on his lips and he craved every moment of it. Though this was not the first kiss they shared it was certainly the most important.

He picked her up by her backside, her skirt bunching around her hips as she wrapped her thighs around his hips. He carried her in to the drawing room, laying her down on the lounger. She moaned into his mouth, sending his blood rushing. She nipped on his bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth for a moment, seductively asking for more. Draco complied. He ran his hand down her side, pulling her blouse from her waist band then sliding it up off her head, tossing it on the floor beside them. She unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his toned midsection, tossing it to the floor with hers. Her skin felt like satin against his chest as he vigorously kissed her. His lips no longer satisfied with just her mouth, Draco traveled down her neck kissing, nipping and sucking the way to her collar bone. His hand moved up to her bra, pulling the cup down, revealing her hard rosey nipple that was just begging to be teased, and Draco obliged by taking the lovely thing in to his mouth, sucking and rolling his tongue around the sensitive skin.

Hermione's breath caught in her throat, a tingling feeling flowing from her breast to her folds, now slick with anticipation. She felt Draco's hand pulling down the zipper on her hip to the pencil skirt that she had yet to take off today. She lifted her hips, the cold air chilling her nipple when Draco released it from his hot mouth, and he very slowly, very methodically pulled her skirt off her body tossing it to the side with the other discarded clothing. Draco raised himself up over her, pulled his wand out of his trouser pocket and with a flick of his wrist Hermione heard the doors to the room close and then he mumbled what she was sure was a muffling spell. He then slowly unfastened his belt and trousers, sliding them down to the floor and for a moment the two of them admired each other in their in the undergarments. "Last chance, Granger, or I take you" Draco warned.

Hermione smiled. "Take me."

Draco gave her a roguish smile, he bent over her hooking his fingers in to her lacy knickers, inching them down her thighs, teasing her with impatience. Hermione waited for the lace to fall off her ankles. If he wanted to go painstakingly slow, she could play that game, she slowly sat up and smiling up at him as he towered over her, his pale figure glowing in the warm light. She traced her hands up his thighs then gently slowly pulled down his boxers, exposing his member to the open air. She let the boxers fall to the ground as she kissed his lower stomach, ignoring the twitching cock beside her.

Draco let a low guttural growl, her lips were leaving hot imprints in his skin. He wanted her so badly, and it took every ounce of strain not to bend her over and just take her. He had plans though, he wanted to milk this for every moment he could. He had dreamed about this for too long to fuck it up now. He opened his eyes and looked down at her when her kisses stopped peppering his abdomen. She was sitting just in front of him, his length millimeters from her mouth, her breath taunting his sensitive head, she gave him devilish smile as her nails caressed the insides of his thighs. Then she delicately took his sack into the palm of her hand and licked his shaft the flat of her tongue, Draco nearly lost it. His body shuddered with pleasure and a husky moan escaped his mouth as his head rolled back. Then he felt her take him in to her mouth smoothly, rhythmically gliding up and down his length, his hand wrapped itself in her curls his thumb tracing circles on her scalp. Then without warning he felt her plunge his full length into her mouth his head sliding down her throat. Draco choked with surprise and pleasure, but now had an overwhelming need to get her off of him before he came to early. When she came back up his shaft, Draco grabbed her curls and pulled her off of him, guiding her spine to the back if the lounger so she was reclining all the way back. He smiled at her as he slowly sank to his knees. "Isn't that a lovely trick?"

She smiled back at him. "I'm full of surprises," she teased, but Draco didn't respond. He just smirked at her. His hand however, moved to her back unclasping her bra, slowly pulling it off of her. She watched him as he took her nipple into his mouth, his hand massaging the other. She closed her eyes, a soft mew escaping her lips as her head rolled over the top of the lounger. She felt him leave her nipples. "Well, you see, I have a few tricks of my own." Then she felt his smooth tongue plunge into her folds. Hermione's hand clenched the cushion. She took a sharp breath as she felt the tip of his tongue massage her clit.

She moaned loudly. "Ooohhh, more," she pleaded. Draco sucked harder on her clit, the broad of his tongue now lapping away at her, and felt his fingers plunge into her depths. "Yessss..." She felt his fingers sliding up and down her sensitive wall and she could feel her body starting to tingle with warmth and her muscles ache for release. "Dracooo..." She whispered.

Draco could see her chest heaving as she neared the edge, he was relentless in his ministrations. He was sure he could bring her to orgasm twice and he wanted to taste her in his mouth. "Draco..." she called again, but Draco continued. He could feel her growing hotter against his tongue. He picked up his pace, his tongue vigorously massaging her bud while fingers thrummed against her g-spot. Her moans became more and more fevered, her panting haggard. Then suddenly she yelped, her hips bucking forward as hot juices filled his mouth and he felt her thumping on his fingers, Draco smiled and gave one last lick before he moved up to her mouth again, her taste on his lips as he kissed her.

"See?" he whispered in her mouth. His hands grabbed her hips and pulled her down on to his lap where he began kissing her again, the fire in the background still crackling. He rotated them on to the soft Persian rug and laid her down kissing her neck while he positioned himself between her legs. He looked into her eyes as placed his head at her opening then kissed her passionately as he entered her. Draco took his time kissing her, praising her as he worked her back up for her second orgasm, and once again he watched her chest start to heave and her head roll back and he quickened his pace to intensify the feeling.

Hermione felt the second orgasm coming. She felt her stomach tingle, her muscles ache, her toes curl. "Draco..." she moaned again, as she felt him pound in to her. "Oh please," she whispered. She felt his pace intensify, his need for her clear in the way he reacted to her voice. Then, with another call of pleasure, she was sent over the edge, her entire body throbbing with the remnants of her orgasm, and with a few short pumps, she felt Draco bury himself in her as he throbbed inside of her, his seed spilling from her.

Draco touched his forehead to hers. It was everything he had imagined and more than he ever thought he deserved. He kissed her again, this time deeply as if he were trying to convey his emotions through his lips. When he looked at her again his heart twinged, she was laying beneath him softly smiling as if she understood everything he was trying to tell her. Her hand moved up and brushed his hair from his face. "I don't know about you, but I like post-coital snacks," she said with a smirk.